Playgrounds seen as key to maintain child health

1of 5Julian Hendrix and Kair Funaro play at Howard Early Childhood Center in the Alamo Heights ISD. A study finds that outdoor play is important for the health of children.Photo: Photos by Helen L. Montoya / San Antonio Express-News

2of 5The playground at Howsman Elementary school in Northside ISD is locked.

3of 5Julian Hendrix, 4, plays on the playground at Howard Early Childhood Center in the Alamo Heights ISD on Friday July 19, 2013. A research group called Salud America! from the UT Health Science Center did what the director called a "comprehensive literature review" to conclude that 81 percent of Latino neighborhoods do not have a recreational facility, compared to 38 percent of white neighborhoods. The research shows access to playgrounds, gyms or sports fields make kids more likely to become physically active and maintain a healthy weight. In San Antonio, school playgrounds are often the only option but their policies vary widely.Photo: San Antonio Express-News

4of 5Margaret Milinovich, 2, and Jocelyn Hendrix, 17 months, play on the swings at Howard Early Childhood Center in the Alamo Heights ISD on Friday July 19, 2013. A research group called Salud America! from the UT Health Science Center did what the director called a "comprehensive literature review" to conclude that 81 percent of Latino neighborhoods do not have a recreational facility, compared to 38 percent of white neighborhoods. The research shows access to playgrounds, gyms or sports fields make kids more likely to become physically active and maintain a healthy weight. In San Antonio, school playgrounds are often the only option but their policies vary widely.Photo: San Antonio Express-News

5of 5Julian Hendrix and Kair Funaro play on the playground at Howard Early Childhood Center in the Alamo Heights ISD on Friday July 19, 2013. A research group called Salud America! from the UT Health Science Center did what the director called a "comprehensive literature review" to conclude that 81 percent of Latino neighborhoods do not have a recreational facility, compared to 38 percent of white neighborhoods. The research shows access to playgrounds, gyms or sports fields make kids more likely to become physically active and maintain a healthy weight. In San Antonio, school playgrounds are often the only option but their policies vary widely.Photo: San Antonio Express-News

Rustina Garza takes her three young daughters to a school playground at least twice a week and was at Gillette Elementary School on Thursday morning, sitting on a staircase and smiling at the tumbling girls.

Garza, 28, predicted the kids would be tired by nightfall, a good thing.

“They would have just been stuck at home. I don't feel right for them to just stay in the house. It's not a way to live,” she said, grateful that Harlandale Independent School District keeps some — though not all — of its campus play areas open to the general public.

In San Antonio neighborhoods, access to playgrounds, gyms and athletic fields varies widely, much of it depending on the willingness of school districts to keep them open after hours and on weekends.

It's the same across the nation, and those disparities — with a recent study concluding that only 19 percent of Latino neighborhoods have a nearby recreational facility, compared with 62 percent of Anglo neighborhoods — could help explain higher obesity rates among young Latinos because outdoor play is key to helping children maintain a healthy weight.

Obesity — which has been linked to diabetes, heart disease and other health issues — affects 43.6 percent of Hispanic children and 15.6 percent of Anglo kids nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost two-thirds of Bexar County's adult population is considered obese, according to the CDC.

An important first step to combat it would be for more schools to leave their outdoor facilities open, said Amelie Ramirez, who directs the Institute of Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center, which includes the nonprofit group Salud America that conducted the study.

Across the country, about 35 percent of schools kept playgrounds open in 2000 — but that figure had decreased to 29 percent by 2006, the study found. It reviewed 12 years of Latino youth health research with a $2 million grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Bexar County's 16 school districts consider safety, liability, maintenance costs and vulnerability to crime when deciding which playgrounds to keep open. Some districts have uniform policies; some leave it up to their principals.

North East Independent School District, with 55.1 percent Hispanic enrollment, keeps a few campuses open after school hours.

“Open playgrounds is really on a campus-by-campus basis,” said district spokeswoman Aubrey Chancellor. “But it really is a double-edged sword for school districts around the city. We want to leave them open to the community, but we're always afraid of the possibility of vandalism.”

Northside Independent School District, the city's largest, with a 68.3 percent Hispanic enrollment, usually has 115 campus play areas open after school hours, unless maintenance work is being done or the school is being used, said Pascual Gonzalez, its spokesman. A principal might lock up a playground for a few weeks after an occurrence of vandalism, he added.

“The issue is that the kids have to be careful because the playgrounds are not lit at night,” Gonzalez said. San Antonio Independent School District, with an enrollment that is 91.3 percent Hispanic, keeps all their playgrounds open as well. It has been working with the city to improve some of its outdoor athletic training facilities for the general public.

Last year, the district received a “Communities Putting Prevention to Work” grant from the city to renovate several school properties, including tennis courts at Rhodes Middle School and Rogers Middle School, and a new walking trail and basketball court at Harris Middle School, SAISD spokeswoman Leslie Price said.

“There is vandalism sometimes, unfortunately, but some are still open to the public,” she said.The district has also begun offering free zumba classes for community residents to encourage adults and children to get active. Esther De Leon, who gave her age as “over 60,” participates every week at Edison High School.

“It's wonderful,” De Leon said. “Moms go with their kids and you can tell it encourages the entire family to be healthy. Every week more people go from the community. Schools in a neighborhood are important because they're like the hub of the community.”

Janet Tracey used to drop off her sons at Judson High School to work out in their “open gym,” which she found to be a great resource. Every school district should open their campuses to the public, she said.

“Some people may not be able to afford gyms,” Tracey said. “You want your kids to be active, so to me, exercise is part of that.... Not everyone's access is the same to outside resources, and a school is part of its community, so it can help by offering its resources.”

“Some of the specific things they could agree on is that the community and school share supervision, share the cost of maintaining the facility,” she said. “If we make healthy choice the easy choice, then it won't be so hard for people to start doing it, and it will make the behavior natural.”

Her organization is building an Internet page to post health-related articles, shared use agreement templates, research briefs and other “tools that the community can use to show them what's going on in the rest of the United States,” Ramirez said. It's set to launch this winter.

Playing for better health is what propels Síclovía, a biannual city-sponsored and YMCA-hosted event that turns local streets into places where people can run, bike or skate. “There is an issue with diabetes in San Antonio; so getting active helps combat that and obesity,” said Laura Waldrum, the director of marketing and public relations at San Antonio's YMCA office. Gabriella Suarez, 13, attends Kingsborough Middle School but it only takes her eight minutes to walk from her house in Harlandale ISD to meet friends at the Columbia Heights Elementary School playground.

“It's quiet here sometimes and it's spacey. I especially like being outside with friends. We'll just hang out here, come out and play on the slides and stuff,” she said. “It's nice to get outside and be here. I come a lot.”

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that San Antonio Independent School District keeps some of its playgrounds open. The district keeps all of its playgrounds open.